Skin removal tool for skin grafts - photo

[Frank S]

I had a slightly more modern version of that tool used on me once to harvest a 4" by 6" section of skin from my upper thigh to fill in a void on my mid calf where a .44 magnum exploder round nearly removed my leg and it was only a flesh wound Had I been an inch to the left the bullet might have only ripped my pants but an inch to the right and they would have had to fit me for a prosthetic They turned that 4x6 piece of meat into 7 layers of strips and 350 staples later the claf muscle was stitched back together and covered. this was 32 years ago. and the few staples they couldn't find were still working their way to the surface as recent as 10 years ago. Hamburger meat looked better than my calf before they repaired it.

[neilbourjaily]

I think I could get my cheese slicer to do that job.

[ranald]

I had a slightly more modern version of that tool used on me once to harvest a 4" by 6" section of skin from my upper thigh to fill in a void on my mid calf where a .44 magnum exploder round nearly removed my leg and it was only a flesh wound Had I been an inch to the left the bullet might have only ripped my pants but an inch to the right and they would have had to fit me for a prosthetic They turned that 4x6 piece of meat into 7 layers of strips and 350 staples later the claf muscle was stitched back together and covered. this was 32 years ago. and the few staples they couldn't find were still working their way to the surface as recent as 10 years ago. Hamburger meat looked better than my calf before they repaired it.

Yeah, but we wouldn't want to eat your calf Frank. Hope all is ok with your calf now.

In early 70's my table tennis mate had a section of his shoulder flesh removed(not from injury but skin cancer) and the shoulder without flesh is pretty much just bone like material & it was not pretty even with gauze on it. He had very fair skin & had been in pacific during WW2.